Kal'mia, a genus of North American shrubs, which bear cup-shaped rose or purple flowers in clusters. The kalmias belong to the heath family and are known commonly in the United States as laurel. All are more or less poisonous when eaten. The mountain laurel, or calico bush, has been carried from its home in the Alleghany Mountains to Europe, where it is a favorite garden shrub. The flowers of the kalmia have a peculiar arrangement for fertilizing themselves. When the flower opens, the stamens are bent back away from the pistil and are held in little pockets in the corolla. Whenever an insect touches them they fly loose, scattering the pollen from little holes in the tops of the anthers. Some of the pollen falls upon the insect and is by him carried to the stigmas of other flowers, and in this way cross fertilization is secured. Under favorable conditions the trunk of the mountain laurel attains a diameter of three inches, and as the wood is hard like box, it is used by turners for small objects, such as handles to tools. The sheep laurel, or lamb kill, sometimes called staggerbush, is a small species of kalmia that poisons sheep.